Written by Rick Jaffa,
Amanda Silver, Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow, based on characters created
by Michael Crichton.

Directed by Colin
Trevorrow.

GRADE: B-

REVIEW:

The Dave Matthews Band has a song called “Too Much,” an
essay on the market-driven gluttony of a society that is never satisfied,
always seeking “more.” That’s the basic theme of Jurassic World, the fourth installment borne from Steven
Spielberg’s iconic 1993 megahit Jurassic
Park. As if seeing authentic-looking dinosaurs on screen for the first time
(not Claymation or a guy in a suit trampling through miniature film sets)
wasn’t cool enough, Universal Studios always seems ready to green-light another
“Jurassic” sequel to keep up with the
demands of the masses.

Since all the deadly disasters of previous ventures of
messing with dinosaur DNA really didn’t teach anybody anything about ethics or
prudence, our story picks up years later on Isla Nubla (a fictional island off
the coast of Costa Rica), the original location of the doomed Jurassic Park.
The island now hosts an even bigger theme park called Jurassic World, where
thousands flock to see real dinosaurs in action. Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas
Howard) is the park’s operations manager who reluctantly allows her young
nephews Zach and Gray (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins) to visit the park while
her sister (Judy Greer) works out some marital difficulties. At the same time,
Claire is under intense corporate pressure from her boss Simon (Irrfan Khan) to
create new “cooler” hybrid creatures by manipulating “dino-DNA” with current
fish, amphibians and reptiles. On another part of the island, there’s a Velociraptor
research facility headed by Owen (Chris Pratt), who is under pressure from a
corporate security sleaze named Hoskins (Vincent D’Onofrio) to turn the raptors
into trained military weapons. Owen has some success in training the raptors to
follow commands.

But, as always, something goes wrong and the newest,
biggest, baddest dino-hybrid called Indominus Rex get loose and starts killing
every living thing it can get its teeth into, including the gentler herbivore
dinosaurs on the island. Zach and Gray get stuck in the jungle, prompting
Claire to enlist Owen to save them. As the Indominus gets closer to the central
theme park, more people die, leading to a showdown at the park’s center.

The irony of Jurassic
World can be found in its core theme of how corporate consumerism leads to
disaster. On the one hand, giving everybody, including stockholders and
customers “more, more, more” seems like a bad idea. On the other hand, that’s
exactly why we keep getting sub-par movie sequels. It might have been just fine
if we’d never seen a single Jurassic
sequel, but just like the characters in the movies, we (and the movie studios) never
learn. We’re often disillusioned and disappointed that the best new thing
doesn’t quite recreate the feeling we had when we first saw a T-Rex stomp onto
the set of Spielberg’s original classic. It may be “Too Much,” but that won’t
stop Universal from making another sequel, either. Incidentally, there is a
very wide door left open for continuation of the story in the movie, further
demonstrating my point.

All ironies aside, Jurassic
World is kind of fun and has plenty of peril, action and cool special
effects to make it worthy of a little summer escapism. The story and characters
aren’t exactly anything new, representing the commonplace movie role players
like the rogue hero, a tough female counterpart, the greedy guys, the
villainous “meanies,” the unethical scientist and smart kids who are somehow
able to defy the odds of survival. Yes, you know what’s coming, but you still
jump out of your seat every once in a while.

Although the gap between Jurassic
Park and Jurassic World might be
worlds apart, kids who’ve never seen the original might get a thrill out the
dinosaurs. For the rest of us, it might be a little too much.

One warning: Jurassic World barely earns a PG-13 rating for avoiding graphic gore, but that doesn't mean little kids should see it. Lots of people die horribly, so you might want to get a sitter.